Swimming with My Toddler – Jumping!

This picture is of the big kids (Carman & Sudoku) in the pool. But the post is about Doodle’s progress.

Somewhere along the way, Doodle has gained some independence. For most of the swimming season, he’s been pretty clingy with me. I think my venturing in the water with Rosebud was when Doodle started playing more without me. With water wings on (he’s not wild about the Little Swimmer right now — it doesn’t hold him up very well), he’s been puttering around the pool.

Then yesterday – out of nowhere – he jumped (he said “dove”) off the top rung of the ladder. Thinking it was an accident, I asked him to do it again. He did and was completely submerged and came up with a big grin on his face. I told him to not jump anymore from the ladder and explained why it was dangerous. Then for the rest of our swim time he jumped from the edge of the pool over and over again and would swim back to the ladder to do it again.

He’s getting stronger and more confident. (And, yes, one half of one water wing is still deflated. But I’m not going to deflate half of the other one. They slip off too easily.) – milkmaid